A portion of the waterfront in Suva, the capital and largest city of Fiji. Photo: Flickr/Nathan Hughes Hamilton.

Walesi, the Fijian government’s digital television infrastructure management company, has signed a multi-year agreement with Eutelsat Communications that will expand Free-to-Air (FTA) television throughout Fiji. The agreement covers C-band capacity on the Eutelsat 172B satellite to complement terrestrial coverage of the Walesi digital television platform.

Eutelsat’s new all-electric satellite, now in full commercial service, will allow Walesi to provide digital FTA TV via a Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform that will serve even the most remote, deep rural, and maritime areas of Fiji located beyond range of terrestrial networks. The platform will initially provide access to six digital FTA channels — with capacity to further expand — that will be accessible via a Set-Top Box (STB). Walesi will announce details regarding the DTH roll-out and government-subsidized boxes in the coming weeks.

“This universal satellite coverage will be transformational for Fiji in three ways: it will provide better access to information to all Fijians, especially those in remote, deep-rural, and maritime communities; it will further Fiji’s standing as an international telecommunications hub for the entire Pacific region; and it will fortify the climate resilience of our infrastructure,” said Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji’s attorney-general and minister for communications. “This is just the beginning; going forward, our partnership with Eutelsat will allow the government to fulfill our vision of providing video, data, and voice access to every community in Fiji.”